Romenesko Flap: A Non-Diverse Affair

The Poynter Institute's dramatic reproach of its pioneering media blogger Jim Romenesko, followed within hours by his resignation Thursday night, sent tweets flying and computer keys clicking, with discussions of media ethics thrown in for good measure.

But it was a discussion that largely took place in the absence of journalists of color.

Given the complexion of the media-criticism business, and the nature of the items chosen for Romenesko's blog, perhaps that was to be expected.

"Among mainstream journalists, a column by media critic Jim Romenesko has become a staple about the news industry. In many ways, Journal-isms serves a similar purpose, only for and about people of color," Jones wrote. She quoted Dori J. Maynard, president of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

" 'That’s why we started it, actually,' said Maynard, president of the journalism training institute based in Oakland, California. 'I was so disturbed by Romenesko. There was [rarely] any notice of people of color.'

"Maynard cited a major promotion for NBC executive Paula Madison, a black woman, that never appeared in Romenesko’s column, even though, she said, 'I know people sent him the links' [to stories on various subjects].

"Then there was author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez’s now-infamous 3,400-word resignation letter to The Los Angeles Times in 2001 that called the newspaper’s diversity efforts and coverage into question.

" 'Her resignation letter went all around and just made e-mails everywhere,' said Maynard. 'It took Romenesko a month to six weeks to catch up.'

"Those examples, she said, 'show you how many people are being left out of the coverage. Then it turns out that the person who was critiquing the coverage was leaving out the same people.' "

Romenesko did not respond to a request from Journal-isms for comment. The supervisor to whom he submitted his resignation, Julie Moos, director of Poynter Online, said her email box was overflowing.

Both had reason to be busy Thursday night and Friday.

Here's how the Huffington Post began its Thursday night account:

"Just weeks shy of his planned semi-retirement, famed media blogger Jim Romenesko has resigned from his position at Poynter after being accused of improperly attributing quotes in his blog, Romenesko+.

"The charge came in an article written by Julie Moos, the director of Poynter Online, who said Romenesko's 'imperfect attribution' had failed to meet 'the highest standards of journalism excellence' that the site works hard to adhere to.

" 'Though information sources have always been displayed prominently in Jim's posts and are always linked at least once (often multiple times), too many of those posts also included the original author's verbatim language without containing his or her words in quotation marks, as they should have,' she wrote.

"According to her post, Romenesko offered to resign and she refused to accept his resignation at the time.

Romenesko wrote to his Facebook followers Thursday: "Thanks to everyone for their support. I went to bed last night thinking this would be the worst day of my journalism career. I was wrong."

He asked, "Have I ever summarized your posts? Was I fair, or did you feel I stole your words? Please let me know." Some of the bold-face names in media writing answered with resounding support. "We all know @Romenesko could not be bought, rented or spun. So he gets pilloried for lack of quote marks? Stay classy, Poynter," tweeted David Carr of the New York Times.

Others said that they understood Romenesko's style of writing, that they felt it was clear he wasn't stealing others' words. But, as Choire Sicha explained in a blog called "Under the Bus: The Intolerable Evolution of Poynter's 'Romenesko+,' the environment in which Romenesko blogged had changed.

"It was quite successfully run by its founder, Jim Romenesko, though you could tell every once in a while he'd go through periods of advanced boredom in covering media day-in and day-out. People (well, reporters and editors) mostly loved it; the headlines were, unusually, out-bound links. So it sent traffic. Romenesko's slight summaries were careful and sometimes sly. The 'technology' of the site as such was pretty laughable, down to the ridiculous URL. He was super-fast, he was fair and he was, very subtly, often dryly funny. Then Poynter got whorey.

"The headlines became permalinks to the site itself, so it stopped sending much traffic. The site became more 'social' in orientation. The posts got longer."

Others at Poynter started to contribute, and the blog became known not as "Romenesko," but "Romenesko+." However, under the new arrangement, more topics related to diversity, such as the dispute between the National Association of Black Journalists and Unity: Journalists of Color, Inc., began to appear.

A few journalists of color did weigh in on the dispute. Karen Dunlap, president of the Poynter Institute and an African American, led a group of Poynter faculty members who published their views on the controversy on Friday. Eric Deggans, media writer for the Poynter-owned St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and a black journalist, wrote a blog entry.

Jeff Yang, a columnist at the Wall Street Journal, expressed a widely shared view on Facebook.

"Not that anyone's asking me to chime in, but add me to the list of people who think that the way Poynter handled the Jim Romenesko situation was very close to worst-case," Yang wrote, referencing an online column by Erik Wemple in the Washington Post.

"Along with Wemple, I see Moos's point. I also think that there's something ironic (in the Morissetteian sense) about an institution dedicated to advancing journalistic standards publicly censuring a columnist who is himself an institution dedicated to advancing journalistic standards, based on an inquiry from an institution dedicated to advancing journalistic standards," a reference to the Columbia Journalism Review, which was working on a story that included questions about Romenesko's attribution.

"It smacks of circular firing squad to me, especially given the much larger, lower-hanging targets out there...which will now hang ever lower with Romenesko no longer spotlighting them, at least until he ramps up his personal site. All in all, a debacle that could have been easily avoided with a respectful internal memo, and a note from Romenesko himself indicating the reason for the new 'more and bigger quotes' policy."

David Gonzalez, a reporter at the New York Times, was another who posted on Facebook. Asked why he thought the Romenesko affair generated so few comments by journalists of color, Gonzalez responded with a compliment. "Don't have much to say," he said. "I read it less and less. Journal-isms had more appeal." The Journal-isms columnist tried out for the Poynter slot on Nov. 1.

"The lapse can't be attributed merely to star-struck local newspapers or lazy national sportswriters, though that's part of the equation.

"Jerry Sandusky, a long-time assistant to the winningest coach in college football history, allegedly abused at least half a dozen young boys over more than a decade. Penn State administrators knew about it and law enforcement was investigating him.

"But a combination of other factors converged to keep the accusations under wraps, including:

"The entire chain of command was involved in the decision to run what has become known as the 'duck/dog' story, all the way up to CBS corporate in New York, according to a WCCO newsroom source who spoke to City Pages on the condition of anonymity for fear of being fired.

" 'It was approved by multiple middle manager producers, and the CBS lawyer,' says the source. 'Our news director hasn't said a word, hasn't approached anyone in the newsroom about it. He may make heads roll before his head rolls.' "

" 'On the other side it says, "We used our language to defeat the enemy," and that’s what we did,' he said.

"Nez carefully puts the lid back on the box and hands it to his son for safekeeping. Inside is a Congressional Gold Medal — one of only 29 in existence — given to Nez by then-President George W. Bush during a White House ceremony July 26, 2001.

"Five of the 'original 29' Navajo Code Talkers, the men who developed and implemented the code that confounded the Japanese during World War II and was never broken, received the medals that day.

"In a moment that speaks to the reverence Nez holds for his country, instead of shaking the president’s hand after being handed the medal, he saluted Bush as his commander-in-chief.

"When the ceremony took place, five of the 'original 29' were living. Today, only Nez remains."

"Cain denied making any sexual actions towards Sharon Bialek and vowed to take a polygraph test if necessary to prove his innocence.

"Cain has not taken a polygraph but Ward said he does have software that does something better.

"Ward said the $15,000 software can detect lies in people's voices.

"CBS Atlanta's Mike Paluska played Cain's speech for Ward into the software and watched as it analyzed Cain's every word.

" 'If he is hiding something this thing would have spiked way down here,' said Ward. 'He is being truthful, totally truthful. He is a man with integrity and he talked directly about not knowing any incident he is accused of.'

"The software analyzes the stress level and other factors in your voice. During the speech, when Cain denied the claims, the lie detector read 'low risk.' According to Ward, that means Cain is telling the truth."

"Herman Cain emerges as the leader within the full sample, capturing 23% of all registered voters, and 24% of those who identify as Republican," Marisa Treviño reported on her Latina Lista blog. "The poll was conducted prior to a fourth woman emerging with specific allegations of sexual harassment against Cain, so it is likely that his support has dropped as a result of this recent development.

"Mitt Romney comes in second among all voters, trailing Cain by 5% among Republican voters and registered voters more generally."

"Alisen Redmond, news editor of the Kennesaw State University (KSU) Sentinel, and Judith Kim, a photography editor of the Georgia State University (GSU) Signal, were taken into custody while reporting on demonstrations near Atlanta's Woodruff Park on 6 November. The pair spent 14 hours in jail before being released and ordered to reappear on March 9, 2012 to face charges of 'obstruction of traffic', the Sentinel and Signal reported.

"The charges were upheld despite the fact that both journalists were arrested on a street that police had already closed to traffic, although pedestrians were apparently forbidden from entering as well. Ms. Kim told the Signal that she was unaware that being on the street would lead to her arrest and that police summarily took her into custody despite her yelling, 'I'm student media!' "

". . . In a letter to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, a copy of which was obtained by the International Press Institute (IPI), Ed Bonza and Dr. Bryce McNeil, student media advisors at KSU and GSU, respectively, expressed 'strong disagreement' with the arrests of Ms. Redmond and Ms. Kim. The letter emphasised that the two students had 'properly addressed and acknowledged the orders of officers when vocalized at all times'."

"Layoff notices are being handed out across CNN/U.S. today. Photographers, editors and other staffers in Atlanta, New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles and Miami are being let go," Chris Ariens reported Friday for TVNewser. "In all, at least 50 positions are being eliminated. As many as 12 staffers in the Washington, DC bureau alone, four of whom are longtime photojournalists. CNN Senior VP Jack Womack writes in a note to staff that the cuts come after a 3-year analysis of the company’s work processes."

"As if looking at four years in state prison for his role in the King of Pop's death is not bad enough, Dr. Conrad Murray is also facing a lawsuit brought by a Newport Beach attorney on behalf of a Poway nuclear medicine imaging systems company," Matt Coker reported Friday for OC Weekly. "The complaint against Murray, MSNBC and other media companies demands Digirad Imaging Solutions be paid more than $147,000 the physician owes before he is paid anything for his exclusive interview in the documentary 'Michael Jackson and the Doctor: A Fatal Friendship' airing tonight."

"After much talk, first in Page Six, CBS News is bringing on Charlie Rose and Gayle King to front a revamped and, likely, renamed CBS morning news show," Chris Ariens reported Friday for TVNewser. "An announcement is expected Tuesday, sources tell TVNewser. The current anchors Erica Hill and Jeff Glor, who were named co-anchor and news anchor less than a year ago, will play a role in the new morning program."

"What goes around has come around in Arizona," Geraldo Rivera wrote Wednesday in his column for Fox News Latino. "Russell Pearce, the chief architect of SB1070, the Grand Canyon State’s mean-spirited, ill-conceived, provably self-defeating anti-immigration legislation has been driven from office. So anti-immigration hard-liners, beware. Harsh and divisive immigration scapegoating will not be tolerated by voters. The immigrant punching bag will hit back. Russell Pearce is out. Reason and civility are in. Bien hecho (well done), Mesa, Arizona."

"Several years ago, UCLA professor of cinema and media studies Chon Noriega teamed up with colleague Francisco Javier Iribarren to analyze a slice of AM radio’s dominant format, conservative talk," Richard Horgan wrote Wednesday for FishbowlLA. "The pair focused on two weekday programs, one of which, 'John and Ken,' has recently come under heavy fire for its on-air disclosure of a Hispanic public relations professional’s cell phone number. Final findings published this month show that both the KFI-AM 640 program and 'The Savage Nation' were guilty of four different kinds of hate speech, based on the analysis of separate 40-minute-block transcripts from late July 2008."

"WVUE-TV in New Orleans has agreed to carry new African American broadcast network Bounce TV starting this weekend," Jon Lafayette wrote Friday for Broadcasting & Cable. "New Orleans is the 20th largest market for African American households in the U.S. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Co., which is owned by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson. Among the first Bounce TV programs WVUE will air on its digital channel 8.2 will be the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship football game, which starts at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Elizabeth City State Vikings will play against the Winston-Salem State Rams."

"In 2012, The Poynter Institute will continue offering members of the Asian American [Journalists] Association, Native American [Journalists] Association, National Lesbian and Gay [Journalists] Association and the Journalism & Women Symposium a 20% tuition discount for On-site Seminars here in St. Petersburg, Florida," according to a notice on the Poynter site. "This offer will also apply to Online Group Seminars on News University, our e-learning site." The national associations of black and Hispanic journalists are not included. "The marketing folks at Poynter have been trying for some time to work with NABJ and NAHJ to make the discounts available. For it to happen, we need each group to run a tile or banner ad on their Web site that provides the discount code to members. We do the art work. In both cases, however, we've been unable to get someone to give us the technical specs necessary to create the art work," Butch Ward, Poynter's managing director, told Journal-isms on Friday.